Etymology

workhouse

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Today it means: An institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work. Full definition →

Middle English werkhous ← Old English weorchūs ← Proto-Germanic *werkahūsą
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*werkahūsą
  2. Old English · inherited fromweorchūs“workshop, place of manufacture”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromwerkhous
  4. English todayworkhouse

From Middle English werkhous, from Old English weorchūs (“workshop, place of manufacture”), from Proto-Germanic *werkahūsą, equivalent to work + house.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.